Assistive robots redefine routine hospital care
The demand for efficient, reliable and flexible automation in hospitals is crucial. Current systems only automate parts of hospital processes, creating ‘islands of automation’ that are limited in scope and still rely on manual intervention for distributing goods and samples. The EU-funded HARMONY project sought to develop assistive robotic mobile manipulation technologies tailored to hospital environments. HARMONY targeted two use cases: automating on-demand delivery tasks and automating bioassay sample flows. By leveraging advanced mobile manipulation technologies, HARMONY bridged the gaps left by existing solutions, offering a high degree of flexibility to changing demands and user preferences.
Enhancing workforce efficiency and reducing repetitive tasks
“Our goal was to transform hospital environments through the development of assistive robotic mobile manipulation technologies,” notes project vice-coordinator Lionel Ott. “Unlike traditional robotic systems, which often focus on surgical interventions or patient interaction, HARMONY was designed to support hospital staff in their diverse daily activities, thereby addressing a crucial gap in healthcare automation.” “Guided by real-world challenges faced by end users, HARMONY’s research targeted two specific use cases,” continues Ott. “The first involved the agile transport of small goods around the hospital, while the second focused on laboratory settings, where our technology aided in sample manipulation, facilitating processes like unpacking before analysis.” These scenarios are not merely theoretical but everyday tasks that hospital staff encounter, demonstrating the tangible benefits of HARMONY’s solutions.
Enhancing robot perception, manipulation, navigation and interaction skills
To ensure efficient autonomous mobile manipulation technology for human-centred environments, researchers made several fundamental contributions to existing autonomous robotic technologies. “The success of our project hinges on seamlessly integrating advanced technologies into a user-friendly framework. This approach aims to ensure that these robotic systems can seamlessly integrate into current spaces, eliminating the need for extensive re-engineering of the environment for operation alongside humans,” states Ott. HARMONY contributed significantly to several areas in robotics, particularly in enhancing perception and mapping in dynamic environments, as well as improving navigation and planning in crowded settings. Furthermore, it helped ensure safe whole-body control around humans and advanced non-verbal interactions between humans and robots. By blending the latest work in object-based perception and learning for manipulation, HARMONY significantly elevated the technology readiness of its demonstrated technologies.
Bridging the gap between research and practice
Successful deployments of the newly developed technologies in hospital environments allowed hospital staff and the public to witness the technologies in action, fostering engagement and dialogue with the researchers. HARMONY significantly advanced scientific research while simultaneously driving industrial innovation, contributing to the development of future-ready products by the project industrial partners. “Our extensive research into the technologies powering robotic systems has been published, with many components available as open-source code. This provides an essential foundation for future research, accelerating advancements in mobile manipulation technologies within the healthcare sector,” states Ott. On the industrial front, the newly developed robotic prototype developed is transitioning into a commercial product. This prototype is set to offer a solution for agile transport tasks in hospitals.
Keywords
HARMONY, hospital, healthcare, automation, robots, robotic mobile manipulation, navigation and planning
